JOHN McCAIN

May 19, 2008 

I sat apprehensively in John McCain’s office that September day in 1992, waiting for the senator. In my briefcase were a stack of recently-obtained glossy black and white photographs of dead American flyers missing in action from the Vietnam War. All were taken by the North Vietnamese shortly after their deaths. All were of men the current Vietnamese government had repeatedly denied knowledge of.

The pictures, obtained by Ted Schweitzer, a free-lance researcher secretly working for the Department of Defense in Hanoi, were the evidence Washington needed to prove the Vietnamese had lied. Through an incredible series of events, written about in Malcolm McConnell’s, Inside Hanoi’s Secret Archives, these photographs were the breakthrough that led to increased Vietnamese cooperation, President Clinton’s lifting of the trade embargo and, ultimately, to the establishment of full diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

From June 1992 to June 1994, a watershed 24 months in the POW/MIA saga, I was the Director then, in January 1993, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs. I routinely briefed members of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, including John McCain and its chairman John Kerry. It afforded me many opportunities during hearings, briefings and meetings in their offices, to observe both men up close.

My experiences with Schweitzer and others who played key roles in the "Swamp Ranger" affair, like Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Carl Ford, are ones I certainly will never forget. Nor will I forget my interaction with Senator McCain.

McCain’s reaction, when I showed him the photographs and told him how we obtained them, was one you would expect from a man who’d spent five and a half years in a North Vietnamese prison camp. A pained expression came over his face as he studied them. The lifeless bodies of Captain John W. Seuell, Major Joseph C. Morrison, and Major Marvin N. Lindsey weren’t easy to look at. Under different circumstances, McCain could have been one of them. No doubt, they brought back painful memories.  

A Vietnam War veteran myself, I admired McCain for the courage he demonstrated as a POW. Looking back on that day in his office, and at other encounters with McCain over the next 16 months, I came to admire him even more.

Accounting for MIAs from the Vietnam War was controversial, complicated, and plagued by conspiracy theorists and radical activists. They regularly attacked US Government officials, congressmen, and senators they believed aided and abetted “the conspiracy.” McCain topped their list. During one contentious hearing I attended, a well-known activist stood up in the back of the room, shouted “f___ you,” and flipped McCain the finger. 

McCain, however, sought and spoke the truth, no matter how unpopular it might be. He defended former Assistant Secretary of Defense, Richard Armitage, from spurious attacks by Ross Perot. He provided cover and support for career government officials, who sought the truth under difficult circumstances. He never hid behind his POW experience to shield himself from attacks. And he never played the issue for his own political advantage, as some did.

I remember a classified briefing in the dome of the Capitol for members of the committee. Senator McCain got up from his chair and slowly paced the room during a portion of the briefing that, like the photographs, made him uncomfortable. He could have skipped the briefing or just attended part of it as other committee members did, but he didn't. He asked probing questions and stayed until every question was answered. His sense of duty and obligation to the MIAs and their families was palpable.

Over the years I've continued to watch and study John McCain on television as a senator and as a candidate for President in 2000 and 2008. Whenever I see him, my thoughts invariably go back to my encounters with him between 1992 and 1994. I don’t agree with him on every issue. But while I frequently get angry with politicians, Republicans and Democrats, I believe are taking a position for pure partisan political purposes or because they seek personal advantage, I don’t see that in John McCain. The challenges he's faced and overcome in life have forged an honorable man.

If ever there was a year the Democrats should take back the White House, this should be that year. They're on a roll. They won control of Congress in the mid-term elections. They recently won three House seats in special elections. President Bush’s approval ratings are at all-time lows. Voters are angry about the war in Iraq, the economy, and various other things. So why should Americans elect a sometimes grumpy, 71-year-old Republican, ex-Navy fighter pilot, Vietnam War veteran, and former POW to be their next president?

That's a question each individual must answer for him or herself. For me the answer is that I believe John McCain is a man of exemplary moral courage who will make the right decisions necessary to confront the life and death challenges that confront America. I believe he'll be a president who will tell us the truth, not just what we want to hear. I believe he will be a president who will place the country’s interest above partisan political politics. That’s why I'll vote for him.

Democrats will do their utmost to define McCain as “Bush’s third term” and as someone with no new ideas. They'll say he’s too old, out of touch, and not right for America. Many conservatives also will criticize him. They'll say he’s too liberal and that he's too cozy with Democrats.  

McCain and Barack Obama, the presumptive nominees of their respective parties, both say they want to run a respectful campaign on the issues. With independent 527 groups on both sides, I guarantee you this will be as rough and tumble a campaign as we have ever seen.  But I’m not concerned. McCain’s come through a lot worse. He can take a punch, and he knows, first hand, what he's fighting for.